Theatre blog + London | The Guardianhttp://www.theguardian.com/stage/theatreblog+travel/london
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Zero Hour Bus Tours: theatre wakes up on the night bushttp://www.theguardian.com/stage/theatreblog/2011/aug/01/theatre-night-bus-tours-audio
A late-night bus tour through London's streets, as part of the InTransit festival, opened my eyes and ears to how far audio-based theatre has travelled<p></p><p>Sat on the N11 night bus between London Liverpool Street and Chelsea last week, I realised that headphones have lost their novelty in theatre. I think it's a good thing.</p> <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/stage/theatreblog/2011/aug/01/theatre-night-bus-tours-audio">Continue reading...</a>TheatreStageCulturePodcastingLondonFestivalsMon, 01 Aug 2011 12:18:24 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/stage/theatreblog/2011/aug/01/theatre-night-bus-tours-audioGraham Turner/GuardianAll aboard ... a night on the buses can be full of drama, particularly if you listen to an audio-based show on your headphones. Photograph: Graham Turner for the GuardianGraham Turner/GuardianNight on the buses ... Photograph: Graham Turner for the GuardianMatt Trueman2011-08-01T12:18:24ZLove's labour's located: how I plotted Shakespeare's London with an iPhone apphttp://www.theguardian.com/culture/theatreblog/2011/jan/19/william-shakespeares-london-iphone-app
My new app uses Apple geo-positioning to guide you around the playwright's favourite haunts and sites of significance – even when they're long disappeared<p>If you walk from Tate Modern on London's <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bankside" title="Bankside">Bankside</a> towards <a href="http://www.yourlocalweb.co.uk/images/pictures/01/68/blackfriars-bridge-ec-16374.jpg" title="Blackfriars Bridge">Blackfriars bridge</a> there is a modern office block on Hopton Street. In Shakespeare's time it boasted the biggest theatre in town, holding 3,000 people – larger than any West End venue today. It wasn't the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Globe_Theatre" title="Globe">Globe</a>, the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Rose_%28theatre%29" title="Rose">Rose</a> or the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hope_Theatre" title="Hope">Hope</a>, all 500 yards farther east down the river. It was the Swan. This venue has long been familiar to Shakespeare buffs – a <a href="http://cache3.asset-cache.net/xc/51246432.jpg?v=1&amp;c=IWSAsset&amp;k=2&amp;d=45B0EB3381F7834DB5C71FC273EBD7E536A52DFF8DCEB6D2734446D9B1386347" title="drawing by a Dutch visitor of its stage">drawing by a Dutch visitor of its stage</a> is the only picture extant of what an Elizabethan stage actually looked like – but largely unknown to the thousands who walk by each day. There is not even a plaque to commemorate it, though there is a sign reading &quot;Falcon Point&quot;, to mark the spot where, facing the Swan, stood the Falcon Inn – where Shakespeare, Ben Jonson and other actors and writers would almost certainly have caroused.</p><p>In Stratford, Shakespeare's birthplace, you can't move for memorabilia, but in London – where he spent his working life – he is curiously neglected. The one shining exception is the reconstructed Globe, for which we have to thank the dogged determination of an American, the actor Sam Wanamaker.</p> <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/culture/theatreblog/2011/jan/19/william-shakespeares-london-iphone-app">Continue reading...</a>William ShakespeareCultureTheatreStageBooksLondonUK newsAppsiPhoneiPadAppleMobile phonesTelecomsComputingTablet computersTechnologyLiterary tripsLondonTravelUnited KingdomEnglandWed, 19 Jan 2011 16:36:39 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/culture/theatreblog/2011/jan/19/william-shakespeares-london-iphone-appLinda Nylind/Guardian'This wooden O' ... external view of of Shakespeare's Globe theatre on London's Bankside. Photograph: Linda Nylind for the GuardianLinda Nylind/Guardian'This wooden O' ... external view of of Shakespeare's Globe Theatre on London's Bankside. Photograph: Linda Nylind for the GuardianVictor Keegan2011-01-19T16:36:39ZMy theatrical busman's holiday in London: what am I missing? | David Cotehttp://www.theguardian.com/stage/theatreblog/2010/aug/16/london-theatre-from-new-york
I've got all my stops planned as I prepare one of my periodic visits to the UK from New York. Which plays have I foolishly overlooked?<p>Detractors may snort and roll their eyes, but I'm no Anglophile. Yes, earlier this year I blogged <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/stage/theatreblog/2010/feb/19/american-theatre-enron" title="hand-wringers">hand-wringers</a> about how the English do some things better than Americans and <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/stage/theatreblog/2010/apr/29/enron-broadway-america-critics" title="my support">my support</a> for the Broadway incarnation of <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/stage/2009/sep/23/enron-review" title="Enron">Enron</a> drew scorn from readers and other critics, but I remain steadfastly loyal to New York theatre. Even so, every few years I must make a passage to London and gorge on your dramatic treats, most of which we'll never see (except, perhaps, <a href="http://www.nationaltheatre.org.uk/45462/home/nt-live-homepage.html" title="at the cinema">at the cinema</a>). So herewith are notes on what I've booked for my August holiday, and why.</p><p><strong>Obligatory Pilgrimage to the NT</strong><br />I expect to clock nearly 11 hours in total in the Olivier (Danton's Death, Welcome to Thebes) the Lyttleton (The Habit of Art) and the Cottesloe (Earthquakes in London). I could fill a whole blogpost about how the <a href="http://www.nationaltheatre.org.uk" title="National Theatre">National theatre</a>'s repertory schedule — even at the butt end of summer — puts New York's present offerings to shame. The B&uuml;chner is the sort of Euro-esoterica we never see done professionally, while Moira Buffini's Thebes, staged by the great Richard Eyre, is the sort of big-issue drama that hardly ever gets commissioned stateside. Speaking of ambition, Mike Bartlett's Earthquakes <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/stage/2010/aug/05/earthquakes-in-london-michael-billington" title="sounds">sounds</a> as if it might be a bit attenuated and flawed. Still, bravo to Rupert Goold (and the NT artistic director, Nicholas Hytner) for presenting a three-hour epic that links dysfunctional-family dynamics to catastrophic climate change. And sealing the deal on Earthquakes: I bet Goold's bravura environmental staging must be seen to be believed.</p> <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/stage/theatreblog/2010/aug/16/london-theatre-from-new-york">Continue reading...</a>TheatreStageLondonCultureMon, 16 Aug 2010 08:35:09 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/stage/theatreblog/2010/aug/16/london-theatre-from-new-yorkJohan Persson/PRFor Kleist's sake ... The Prince Of Homburg. Photograph: Johan PerssonJohan Persson/PRThe Prince Of Homburg. Photograph: Johan PerssonDavid Cote2010-08-16T08:35:09Z